Women tell of their horror at faulty breast implants.

The cosmetic surgeon produced a knife and sliced through the silicone in a demonstration designed to impress his patient. The silicone gel held firm, like a piece of jelly cut in two.

Karen Arthur, who had been deliberating over whether to have a breast augmentation operation, had the reassurance she needed.

The silicone would not rupture, explained the surgeon, and even if it did, in the event of a car crash or some such cataclysmic event, the silicone would not leak or liquefy. “They said there was a 10-year guarantee; they said ruptures wouldn’t occur,” recalled Mrs Arthur, 30, a mother of one.

She paid the clinic’s fee of £4,600 and travelled from her then home in Bournemouth to a private hospital in London for surgery that she hoped would lift her breasts – which had been “going south” since she gave birth – and increase her cup size from a B to a C.

What Transform did not know was that at the time of Mrs Arthur’s surgery in 2004, the company’s main supplier of silicone breast implants, the French firm Poly Implants Protheses (PIP), was illegally using cheap, industrial grade – rather than medical grade – silicone.

Mrs Arthur, who now lives in south Wales, was happy with the results. A dance instructor and former model, she cared about her appearance and the operation had given her, as it had many women, a renewed confidence. Then, last year, it started to go horribly wrong.

“I started to get a lot of pain under my right arm, down my right arm and in the side of my chest down by the rib area. I was also getting a crushing pain around the implants” she explained. “I went back to see the surgeon who told me I was fine and there was nothing wrong with the implants and everything was fine.

“But the week after that the pain was getting worse. It was stopping me sleeping at night. I went back again and they told me to wear non-underwire bras to sleep in.

“A fortnight later in May 2010, I found a lump on my right-hand side under my arm pit. It was quite a big lump about the size of a marble. I didn’t think it was anything to do with the implants. I thought I had breast cancer.”

A scan found a tear in the implants and that the silicone had “leaked” into her lymph nodes in her armpit.

“The doctors found another three lumps as recently as September,” said Mrs Arthur. “It is terrifying. It has caused me awful stress. I am still in a lot of pain and at night I still find it difficult to sleep because I can feel the lumps digging into my arm … It is a poison running through my body.”

Mrs Arthur is now in dispute with Transform which she claims wants to charge her a further £3,000 to have the faulty implants removed and replaced. She is planning to take legal action.

Transform, which largely stopped using PIP products in 2005, refuses to comment on specific cases because of patient confidentiality.

Catherine Kydd, a mother-of-two, received PIP implants after paying Transform £4,000 in 2004. She too was shown how the silicone couldn’t leak, again with the gel sliced in half to demonstrate its solidity. “That was how they sold it to me,” she recalled.

Within six months, Mrs Kydd, a beauty therapist from Dartford in Kent, was suffering sufficient pain that she could not lie down without a bra on. “It felt like the silicone was slipping around my back,” she said.

Then in 2009, she discovered a lump on her left breast and – with a history of breast cancer in her family – feared the worst. “It was absolute hell,” she recalled.

A scan found the implant had ruptured and that silicone had leaked into her lymph nodes caused swelling. A year later, after some wrangling, she persuaded Transform to replace her faulty implants, paid for by the clinic.

She has started a Facebook page “to bring together all victims” of the PIP implants. The page contains postings from women in severe distress.

Despite being one of the few lucky ones to have her implants replaced at no cost, Mrs Kydd remains anxious.

“I now have industrial silicone in my body and I have no idea what the long-term effects are. I have to now live with this for the rest of my life,” she said.

Nigel Robertson, Transform’s chief executive, said: “We are encouraging patients to come in and see their surgeon and see what the situation is with the implants.

“We have taken 3,000 calls in the week before Christmas about this.”

He said it was not practical for his company to remove and replace implants free of charge. “The cost of this is significant,” said Mr Robertson.

Clinics, he warned, would be forced out of business if they had to shoulder the costs for replacing an implant which had Government approval and was used in good faith.

It is not just women whose PIP implants have failed who are expressing concern. Donna Breeden, 31, a hairdresser from Southampton, had PIP implants as recently as February 2010, just a month before regulators banned their use.

She paid £4,250 to the Harley Medical Group, one of the largest cosmetic surgery chains in Britain.

“I did a lot of research and went for the most expensive company,” she said. “I didn’t want to take any chances.” Mrs Breeden was horrified to discover six weeks later that the new implants in her body had been banned.

“I just want them out,” she said, “I don’t want to get to the stage of having a rupture.”

Despite a series of discussions, the Harley Medical Group has refused her demands that the implants be taken out and replaced at no extra cost. Mrs Breeden is now planning legal action.

“I am worried sick. My stress levels are through the roof. It’s horrible being in this situation and I feel incredibly let down,” she said.

Harley Medical Group did not comment last week but a posting on its website stated: “We understand that the recent media coverage regarding PIP implants has been a concern for our patients and we would like to take this opportunity to offer reassurance and information.”

The company has advised patients to get in touch if they are experiencing symptoms such as “pain, heat around the breast area, redness, inflammation or rippling”.